Up (USA, 2009, Docter, Peterson)

Up is not only one of the year's best films, it is also one of Pixar's most emotionally satisfying creations. Which is to say, it is a great piece of animated cinema. The film opens with an emotional steamroller of a ten minute prologue that takes us from the childhood to senescence of our main character Carl Fredrickson (the gruff-voiced Ed Asner), from the first blush of love to the heartbreak cast by death's shadow,  imbuing the story with enough honestly bought pathos to fuel the rest of the narrative. Speaking of which, the story proceeds apace, awash in remarkable imagery, locking down its emotional vision, and keenly targetting its thematic concerns, for much of the remaining 80 minutes. Up is an artfully rendered tale of life's hard won lessons, blending an action film for ageing boomers with a romance for the ages in order to create a study in letting go that could give Zen monks pause to contemplate.

When we first meet Carl in the aforementioned prologue, he is a slightly dweebish and timidly adventurous young man who, through a delightful series of events, winds up meeting and falling for a more garrulous and spirited Elie. When he promises her that he will one day show her the world, little did he realize, as we who make such wishes while basking in the glow of endless possibilities that we call youth, the life would find a way to conspire to delay his fulfilment of such a promise until it is too late. After spending his selling helium balloons to children and cavorting with Elie, you would think Carl would be a happy man, but he realizes too late that he has not taken his wife on any of those adventures he had promised in the rashness of his youth. Elie's death leaves Carl broken-hearted and lonely, but more importantly, it leaves him feeling as though he has not been the man his beloved Elie deserved, for he wasn't able to make her dreams come true. Faced with the prospects of losing his home to developers, Carl embarks on a mad scheme. He decides to fly up up and away in his beautiful balloons, and leave this troubled world far, far behind him.

All this in the opening act of the story would have to leave one wondering where Pixar's dream team of Pete Docter and Bob Peterson (whose writing credits include both Toy Story's, Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc., Ratatouille and WALL-E) were going. It's a rather bold move to make the hero of your children's story older than Moses, float away on a bunch of helium balloons and land in an unknown land (the Milton-inspired Paradise Falls, which appears to be not only a place, but a direction and an indication of Carl's ambitions, if you get my drift) where he would end up running into an even OLDER character, Carl's childhood hero, explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). Not only that, but to then have Carl's ertswhile idol end up as his nemesis and have the two geezers engage in a round of fisticuffs that would prove both rousing and hilarious. All of which is to suggest that the Docter and Peterson are not exactly playing it safe or doing it by the book in Up. This is a film that soars above and beyond the predictable, that takes us to new territory, a land of wonder and quirkiness.

Up is certainly brave, and emotionally heartfelt, but it is also a film of some thoughtfulness. Watching Carl as he carries his house around this land surrounding Paradise Falls like an albatross, like Atlas carting the weight of his entire life on his shoulders, reminiscent of Grace in von Trier's Dogville, or the Buddhist monk in Kim Ki-Duk's exquisite Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring Again is as evocative and heart-rending an piece of animation as I can recall. Carl must learn, through confronting the promises of his youth and the dreams of his childhood, that letting go of such idealism is the key to having something tangible to hold onto now, in this world.

It's all mighty heady stuff for a so-called family picture, but damned if Docter and Peterson don't pull it off. Even while carrying around such apparently heavy thematic baggage, the story keeps trucking along, the characters keep tugging away at our sympathies, and Up never risks losing our affection. Up is one of Pixar's finest work, and that really is saying something.

Here's a featurette for your edification.